News

Keighley rape bid accused ‘respects ladies’

A takeaway worker accused of attempting to rape a woman walking home from a nightclub told a jury he “respected ladies” and would never do such a thing.

Mohammed Ansar said his alleged victim and her boyfriend were blocking his way in the road at 2.30am on August 26 last year and he was forced to stop his car.

Ansar, 33, of Highfield Road, Keighley, told the jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday the woman’s boyfriend dragged him from his vehicle and assaulted him. He went to the ground and suffered injuries when he was punched, kicked and headbutted.

Ansar, 33, denies attempted rape and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence in Highfield Lane, Keighley.

The complainant, in her 30s, says he offered her a lift home and then tried to force her into the back of his car.

He chased after her, hit her on the head and dragged her down a bank before getting on top of her and trying to pull down her knickers.

She told the jury she managed to escape after hitting him on the head with her shoes.

Ansar, a married man with a young daughter, said he thought the woman’s boyfriend was “a druggie”.

He told how he hid in bushes after he was attacked but said the man set about him for a second time when he went back to his car.

He did not know how the woman came to be injured or why her handbag and shoes were found on the grassed area.

Ansar said the couple had hatched a plan to lie to the police about what really happened because they did not want the man to get into trouble for assaulting him.

His barrister, Jayne Beckett, read out character references from his family and employer.